title: Vaginal foreign bodies and child sexual abuse: an important consideration.
abstract: Vaginal foreign bodies are a complaint occasionally encountered in pediatric clinics and emergency departments, and when pediatric patients present with a vaginal foreign body sexual abuse may not be considered. We describe two children with vaginal foreign bodies who were found to have been sexually abused. Each child had a discharge positive for a sexually transmitted infection despite no disclosure or allegation of abuse. We recommend that all pre-pubertal girls who present with a vaginal foreign body should be considered as possible victims of sexual abuse and should receive a sexual abuse history and testing for sexually transmitted infections.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Forrest T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Closson
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lichenstein